4 easy steps to writing the perfect real estate agent bio

December 11, 2018

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If you weren’t able to make the 2018 realtor.com® Results Summit in Las Vegas, you really missed out! Lucky for you, I take impeccable notes — and I’m here to share tips, scripts and insights from some of my favorite sessions.

Today, I'm sharing notes from a session on how to write a pitch-perfect agent bio, insights presented by two spectacular real estate pros, Valerie Garcia and Gina Rautenberg.

If you're reading this, you probably work in real estate. Maybe you’re a brand-new agent, ready to take the industry by storm. Maybe you’re a veteran team leader who’s looking for advice on how to help your team grow even bigger. Maybe you're a broker who is in charge of wrangling dozens of agents each and every day (and yes, that includes Sundays).

And those are great descriptions. But they aren't representative of who you really are.

And who you really are is a huge, HUGE part of why people hire you or work for you. The story of who you are matters, because it’s the foundation for everything — including why you work and thrive in the real estate industry.

Okay, I'll go first...

You may know me as a national speaker for realtor.com®, but do you know that I started out on a different stage? My national tours used to include dimmer lights, a lot more makeup and more intricate entrances and exits.

Yeah, people, I used to be a stage actor — in fact, I was the youngest performer ever hired for CATS. Don’t believe me? Okay, here:

Happy now?

The point is not that I make a darn good-looking Rumpleteazer. The point is that you probably understand me a little better than you did before.

I’m not a corporate person who was hired for an onstage position, I’m an onstage person who happens to work for a big company.

It makes a difference, right?

What deep truths about you are hiding in plain sight? How can you uncover them and use them to showcase why you’re special, and why people should hire you?

Today, we’ll find out, in four thoughtful exercises.

Exercise One: Consider your foundational story

In her session at the Results Summit, Valerie asked a series of super general questions to the audience. Set a timer for a few minutes and answer these questions:

How did you get here?

What made you this way?

What have you done?

What have you created?

It’s easy to laugh when someone asks you, “What made you this way?”

But it’s harder to answer the question sincerely, because there’s so much insight once you begin.

Exercise Two: Define your role and dreams

Next, Gina said you must go beyond the “why” of you, and get to the “what.” Set a timer and answer these questions:

GIFTS: What are you good at?

PASSIONS: What do you love?

IMPACTS: Whom do you want to help?

POSSIBILITIES: What do you want to achieve?

You may find that these questions are harder to answer, because they can feel a bit like bragging.

But guess what? When you’re writing a bio or defining your brand voice, it’s okay to only focus on the really, really great stuff that you do. So don’t be afraid of talking yourself up — and be sure to dream big in those last two questions.

And get specific! Don’t talk about “buyers” and “sellers.” Talk about the real folks you help every single day. They’re dreamers, retirees, blended families, newlyweds, new parents, downsizers, local renters, and so much more.

Describe them in detail now, and your final bio will be a lot easier to write.

Exercise Three: What makes you weird?

In this exercise, you’ll start thinking about what makes you delightfully different than every other agent in town.

But don’t just think about your work persona. Think about what you like about yourself inside and outside of work, and what other people like about you as well. It could be that you’re great at finding compromises, or that you make a mean batch of banana pancakes. Just be true to you!

Write down:

5 adjectives to describe who you are

5 action verbs to describe what you do

5 things you will do that your competition doesn’t

Exercise Four: Fill in the blanks

The final exercise is to literally fill in the blanks, using this template that Valerie and Gina created. First, let’s check it out:

[Story opener]

[Name] is a [title] who works with [who you help] to [how you help them]
[Name] [knows/believes] [what you know/believe about the work you do].
[Pronoun] has [learned/created/supported/served/achieved] [insert experiences and wins.]
[Name] is a [trained/certified/licensed/awarded] [insert trainings, awards, honors, etc.]
[What next?]

Most of the above template should fill itself in easily, but here are some helpful tips if you get stuck:

Story opener: This will likely come from exercise 1. Try to give a little color to who you are, and why you’re a natural fit for real estate.

Title: Don’t just say “real estate agent!” That makes you the same as everyone else in the industry. Instead, look back at your words from Exercise 3. Are you a community-builder? An expert negotiator? A homeownership cheerleader? Think a little more creatively to fill in this section.

Who you help: This is where you add in the types of folks you help everyday. Remember, don’t just talk about buyers and sellers. Talk about the super-specific groups that make up your base. Even if people don’t recognize themselves in your descriptors, they’re more likely to keep reading if your bio isn’t boring and formulaic.

Experiences and wins: Don’t just talk about awards here, or say that you’re #1 in the market. Those are facts about YOU, and people want to know how you will help THEM. Talk about the real number of people you helped last year, or the impact you’ve had on your community as a result.

What next: This is where you can add a soft call-to-action for your audience.

You’ve got the bio, what comes next?

Once you’ve filled in your bio template from Gina and Valerie, the possibilities are endless! You can shorten it for different channels (think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and include it on your website and any other marketing materials that introduce you. And of course, you’ll want to add your new bio to your realtor.com® profile!

For even more tips on marketing, tech and more, join our online Facebook community where we keep in touch and share insights with agents from across the country.

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